That Time the Ball Family Got ‘Raw’

By Thomas Albano

Well, this was quite the interesting week in WWE now wasn’t it? From multiple segments on Raw to help build up to WWE Great Balls of Fire, to a Smackdown Live that featured a second women’s Money in the Bank Ladder match (because the first was god damn awful and had an ending that produced more backlash than the pay-per-view named as such), WWE programming was filled with memorable moments this week.

But none may be more memorable, or infamous for that matter, than when the Ball family showed up for a MizTV segment with WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz.

I didn’t know what to expect with this segment, and I did not expect for LaVar and his sons to side with Ambrose and for LaVar to take off his shirt and nearly clash with Miz.

And it was during Ambrose’s entrance, when LaMelo Ball was heard over the microphone, where the figurative s*** hit the fan.

“Beat that n***a a**!” LaMelo shouted twice, picked up over the microphone and going through to and heard by the live TV audience. The video above with the segment was edited, but you can hear the audio in the following clip towards the end:

This, of course, prompted WWE to issue an apology for the incident, stating “The inappropriate language used by a guest during the ‘Miz TV’ segment was not scripted nor reflects WWE’s values.” Of course then the next night, Big E of The New Day makes reference an old Booker-T promo from WCW in which he accidentally used the slur against Hulk Hogan (think about it and you’ll understand the irony there).

Now, there is a good thing and a bad thing here. The bad thing? WWE may have gotten a bit of heat with LaMelo’s uncensored comments. And, well, some WWE personnel (namely Corey Graves and Braun Strowman for this piece) shared some fans’ thoughts in that they wanted the Ball Brand trio nowhere near the ring.